Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Today a work-in-progress to share. I've wanted to remake my Chain Linked pattern in grays for a while now, but I've been waiting for just the right motivation.

Then Luxe in Bloom from Art Gallery Fabrics arrived at my house (thank you AGF!) and I petted it for a while trying to decide what to do with it - when AHA! I realized it was the perfect collection to go with a new gray Chain Linked pattern! I love when I'm smart sometimes.

Luxe in Bloom is Sarah Watson's first collection with Art Gallery Fabrics and I think it is SO pretty. The color scheme is soft and springy, yet subtly sophisticated. (How's that for a fancy schmancy way of saying, "I dig this fabric.") Not to mention it feels like silk. Luxe in Bloom is available here, here, and here.

My favorite print in the collection is this giant Peony print.

I had a few other Art Gallery Fabrics prints from collections like Rock 'n' Romance and Carnaby Street, both by Pat Bravo, to get a little more pink and chartreuse in there and round out the mix. This puppy is off to the quilter. I'll share it in its glory when it comes back. I'm still trying to decide the perfect fabric for binding. Thoughts?

And in news of the weird (yes, those are my feet) the outside of my left foot and underneath the arch were suddenly sore on Monday and I couldn't figure out what I'd done. I started to wonder if I'd pulled or strained it hiking last week, or what.

Then last night I sat down to sew at my kitchen table and realized that while I pushed the pedal with my right foot, I would arch and push back on the floor with my left foot, without thinking. So I think I strained my foot while sewing. How's that for the dumbest sewing injury ever? I am in the process of making a conscious effort to retrain myself to put my left foot flat on the ground while I sew. So. Dumb.

I always make a joke that I pulled my hamstring while applying the brake to make a red light. I guess this ranks up there with it! I think yellow would be a good pick for binding on your gorgeous new creation Any!

I had to laugh about your sewing injury. Maybe quilting qualifies as exercise since you can get hurt?! But what I'm more interested in is your foot pedal that doesn't have a cord. I've never seen that before, but I guess since they've got cordless everything else nowadays a sewing machine foot pedal couldn't be far behind.

Love your gray chain links! When you commented that you liked the gray and yellow one I made on Quilt Story, it was easily my quilt blogging highlight. Yours was the first blog I read when I thought I might like to quilt (courtesy of your beginning quilter series) and I read all of it (yup.) So you are sort of my Quilt Mother, I guess. :)

Sorry about your foot. It's funny what things can have totally whack effects on your body. When I was writing exams for my M.A., I developed a daily headache and pain in a very specific spot on the back of my head. I was convinced I had a brain tumor and was going to die, but it turns out my body was just angry that I was very tensely typing for many hours per day for a month straight. :)

I would get so tense with the pedal while sewing that now I don't use my sewing pedal. Just use the start/stop button on my machine. My stitches look much nicer as I'm not reving up and down the pedal as if I'm driving.

Hah! That's so funny! I had to go back and look at the picture because my machine is so old school that has a big fat cord. When I looked at the pic I thought, "Where did it go??!?" Then I realized my right leg must be totally hiding it. Better than photoshop!

Beautiful rendition of Chain Linked! I had a similar discovery about foot pain. I eventually realized I did basically the same thing as you when I was working at my computer. I pull my feet up onto the base of the chair, and when I am barefoot, they are really way to flexed to stay that way for so long. It's kind of amazing how well our bodies put up with us!

People don't believe me when I tell them that sewing can be painful/dangerous to your health. I just spent a few evenings cutting out 375 squares and my carpal tunnel is acting up now because of it! (Not like that is going to stop me!)

I'm thinking Chartreuse for the binding - is that too out there? I bought the chain linked patter about a year ago, gathered all the fabrics save one that I want to use in it (the other shade for the chain, I chose a dark chocolate pattern for the first one). I love seeing it in your blog again!

I do the same thing with my left foot as well. I have a sewing machine that will sew without the pedal and I still do that with my left foot and it is only when I am sewing. I guess you have to hold your foot just right to get your corners to match. lol ;)

LOL, I do the same with my foot! In the first weeks off my new obsession ( this January ) I had many muscle aches... From sewing! Pain in the neck, pain in the feet, ahhh you name it girl! It has nothing to do with age, just the way we concentrate, right....because we are not old! :-)i love your quilt and I " just dig that fabric" too!Esther

Still having a laugh at your injury but I'm sure I'm laughing with you! I would love to know what other funny sewing injuries there are out there! Love you quilt ... binding in perhaps the colour of your favourite peony print!

The new quilt colors are so pretty. Great idea. And no you aren't getting old. I do something just like that too and noticed my left foot getting sore so I too am trying to be more aware of what I'm doing. Ahhh the things we do to ourselves to create art!

I wear hard soled shoes and I find that helps my foot not to bend as easily. Funny how we get our "sewing injuries". I wonder ... if you can get an injury while doing something, does that mean it may one day qualify as an Olympic sport?

Believe it or not, that's a common pianist injury as well. Because pianists use their feet on pedals, and usually only use their right foot, that happens a lot with the left foot. I actually had really, really swollen soles for about a year and we couldn't figure out how to make it go away. (It turned out that flat feet plus bad shoes plus stress plus... were the culprit.) But my piano teacher was not impressed when I gave feet pain as a reason for not practicing enough piano. He said that if I was making up a lame excuse, I needed to come up with a better one. But it's not an excuse; it's the reality!!

I think bright pink for the binding would be really awesome on the quilt. It would pull out some of the reds/pinks in the quilt and also help draw the eye to some of the other accent colors.

I'm right there with you. I developed trigger thumb on my left hand, couldn't figure out what in the world I had done. Go in to start cutting some fabric and was like "OH" that's what I did. Holding the silly ruller to hard I hurt my thumb. Two steriod shots and holding the ruler different I seam (ha ha) to be ok!

...and isn't sewing barefoot the easiest? I find I can control the speed so much better without shoes on. Makes for an interesting picture in sewing classes!

I love your quilt! Lovely combination! What are the grays that you used? Binding: Is that a coral in the print? I'd go with either the coral (lovely with gray) or chartreuse! Can't wait to see the finish!

A few months back I purchased your chain link pattern and made a gray and white quilt with some really fun prints inside. I had Melissa quilt it and now it is ready for binding. I'll send you a pic when it is done. I love how it turned out!! Your quilt turned out so sophisticated and lovely!

You'll just have to super-glue one foot to the machine pedal, and one to the floor! Great excuse not to do any more housework either... Come to think of it, if I did that, my sewing productivity would increase immensely -- and it would make a nice change from feeling chained to my desk at work. JJ

Oh my gosh, I figured out a few months ago that I do something very similar with my feet. Instead of pushing back with my left foot, I tuck my toes under on my left foot when I sew. I was not hurting when I discovered this, it just kind of came to me one day that I have been sewing for over 40 years and I do this strange thing with my other foot while pushing on the foot pedal with the right.

I know that when I sew for too long, my shoulders tend to hunch over and it is when I get up that I feel all that pain - ouch! Stop and do some stretches for your feet so that they will not be in the same position all the time :) Your quilt is just lovely by the way :D m.

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